You got yourself an advisor.
You finished all your classes.
You somehow passed your Quals.
You chose a research topic and worked very hard for a couple of years.
You (hopefully) got some decent results and maybe event published a paper or two.

But now its time to graduate!

You've got enough information about your work swirling around in your head to fill a book.
Thankfully, the nice people at SEAS want you to do exactly that - write a book - before they let you leave.
So what should you do now?

Since your thesis has to be in a special format, the first thing you should do is download the thesis template. The template was developed by David Coppit who also has the most up to date version. I only keep a local version because I'm somewhat paranoid and don't want to have to rely on an external website for something like this.

Now take a look at the requirements document. Notice how I mention it only after you have the template. This is to avoid unnecessary panic attacks.

Once you have written your deep, insightful, witty and gripping thesis, you need to actually print it. The school requires 3 copies of your thesis, one for the UVA archives, one for your department library and one for the SEAS library. Note that this doesn't include a copy for yourself or anybody who has expressed a burning desire to have a real copy of your thesis, so you might end up needing even more. Each of these copies need to be printed on special BOND PAPER with at least 25% cotton in it. You can buy this kind of paper at the local Office Depot, Staples and at the UVA bookstore etc. . (Update 06/05/2007: Jeremy Sheaffer pointed out that the bond paper at Office Depot has a watermark in each sheet of paper. The bond paper at the UVA bookstore doesn't have any watermark, but that might change. So caveat emptor.) Since the thesis has to be printed single-sided and you need N (N >= 3) copies, you do the math how much you need to buy. Once you have all the copies you want, put them in manila envelopes and label them as instructed in the requirements document. Take all your copies to the SEAS Graduate Office in Thornton, where they'll double check that you got it right.

After they've given you their blessing, take your copies to the Printing & Copying Services on the first floor of the Alderman Library, who'll do the actual binding. They'll charge you about $18 for each copy. Thankfully, you don't need to wait until their done. Just take the receipt they give you back to the Graduate Office and they will acknowledge that you've fulfilled their requirements. If you actually want a copy for yourself or one of your loved ones (I hear its a great stocking stuffer!), that will take a while.